Tag Archives: westboro baptist church

When demonstrators from the Westboro Baptist Church showed up outside his concert in Kansas City, Missouri on Sunday, Vince Gill decided to give the picketers a piece of his mind.

A video posted Sunday (by a YouTube user that claims to be against the WBC) shows Gill speaking to Westboro demonstrators near the Kauffman Center’s Muriel Kauffman Theatre. Asked by an offscreen voice what he was doing outside, Gill says, “I just came to see what hate looked like.”

“Don’t you know that (you) are lucky that you don’t have the sign that says something about my wife?” Gill replies.

Gill tells the demonstrators that Jesus spoke "about forgiveness, about grace. You guys don’t have any of that,” and calmly uses a bit of unprintable language towards one member before turning back to the camera.

“Are any of you guys Phelpses?" he asks, referring to Westboro pastor Fred Phelps and the numerous family members involved with the church. "Or are you guys like, The C-Team?”

Based in Topeka, Kansas, The Westboro Baptist Church proclaims to "adhere to the teachings of the Bible, preach against all form of sin (e.g., fornication, adultery [including divorce and remarriage], sodomy), and insist that the sovereignty of God and the doctrines of grace be taught and expounded publicly to all men," according to its official website.

The church is known for its "God Hates..." signs and slogans against homosexuals, military personnel and other groups, and for demonstrating at funerals, concerts, sporting events and other gatherings.

Gill is scheduled to take the stage tonight in Nashville as a member of Grammy-nominated western swing group The Time Jumpers.